Cinema and Representation

Other Views, Other Experiences

By Albert Ohayon and Marc St-Pierre, NFB Collection AnalystsÂ

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In 1971 the Secretary of State of Canada announced a new policy of support to all the various cultures and ethnic groups in Canada. This policy of multiculturalism was to help break down discriminatory attitudes and cultural conflicts. In response to this policy, the National Film Board of Canada implemented a Multicultural program in August 1972 aimed at acquainting Canada’s ethnic groups with NFB movies versioned in their own languages. The NFB also decided to produce new films reflecting the contemporary lives of the various ethnocultural communities in Canada. In the first instance, 165 NFB films were versioned into 19 languages (including films in Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian and Japanese) and made available through the NFB’s film libraries across Canada.

On the production end, filmmakers from the various cultural groups were brought in and encouraged to make films about their communities. It was no longer a member of the dominant group casting an eye on these groups but someone from the community who explored the challenges and benefits of integration into mainstream Canadian culture. In some cases, a filmmaker profiles members of another community but they focus on the same themes: integration, challenges and the attachment to the old country. We are shown the immigrant experience in Canada through the eyes of those who have lived it.

The filmmaker allows the people to tell their story in their own words. In many cases, the films contain little or no narration, preferring to let the people speak for themselves. If narration is included it is usually one of the participants who tells his or her personal story. Often, the participants speak in their mother tongue, which allows them to better express themselves. The filmmakers will film their subjects in intimate settings such as in their homes, often with their families. These settings allow the participants to be more at ease and consequently open up more in telling their story.

In some cases it is the filmmaker who narrates part of the story. This is not to make them the focus of the story but rather to relate to what the participants have said or done onscreen. The participants are also shown interacting with the dominant culture, at work or elsewhere. We see through these interactions, the struggles and challenges of integrating into the new country. Learning the language of the dominant culture is shown to be a major tool to integration and those who already speak it have a far easier time adapting to their new surroundings.

In some films, the participants have been in Canada for many years. Here the filmmaker wants to show to what extent they have integrated and how they still hold on to the “old country.” These films show how attached people are to their community and their hesitation to integrate. The need to be with one’s own people and the chance to speak one’s mother tongue and catch up on what is going on “back home” is of great importance. Unfortunately it is sometimes to the detriment of integrating into Canadian society.